Today marks one of the saddest moments in the history of Leeds United, it is exactly not what football should be all about.

Many, many of us were looking forward to the first leg of our semi final clash in Istanbul. We were on a roll.  We had played in Partizan Belgrade in Heerenveen (for security reasons – war that is!), been to Moscow twice, although the 2nd visit was always going to be doomed to failure given how cold it had been the first time round. We had been on some damn good trips to Rome and Prague, and now were looking at two games to take us to the final against Arsenal. It was within our reach.

Most of us were already in Istanbul, having travelled with Big Fat Tony from UF Tours. Some of us were waiting at Leeds Bradford airport for the early morning flight with The Travel Club. None of us could have foreseen the events that took place.

For whatever reason, to this day, no one will know the full truth of what happened, two fans didn’t come home from a football game. Much has already been written about this, I do not need to and will not add anything further. I repeat, not what football should be about.

In previous posts, I have already highlighted the prejudice that Leeds United has been subject to. This season it has been the Football League and Sky joining the long list of other institutions that just cannot hide their dislike of us. UEFA has been a long standing perpetrator ( Paris, Salonika etc.etc.) and the wholly unjustified 15 point deduction in 2007 from the collective Football League Clubs to make sure we could not get near promotion, is another classic example of the disparity. Not that we all need reminding, but every year there is the constant reinforcement of the “us v them”.

Our continental cousins have always had much more hooliganism problems than us. Yes England can boast about The Service Crew, The HeadHunters, The InterCity Crew, The Herd etc. but quite frankly some of the European Ultras don’t actually have issues will killing each other, let alone have a fight. UEFA can’t deny that the problems exist, but they are happy to focus their attention on the English clubs, well, because they can, I suppose. Leeds is the equivalent in England. Whatever we do is twice as bad as any other club / player of a club doing it.

Whether it be the recent treatment of Mr Cellino ( incidentally CLEARED of all charges) by the Football League or the corrupt referees in the 1970s, the phenomenon perpetuates year on year. Liam Cooper has got a 6 match ban for something that I scarcely noticed in the ground. Yet that elbow to Chris Wood’s face was looked at, and no action needed apparently. Hmmm.

However, whatever “they” throw at us, we just keep going. Do you remember when the team used to come out to Tubthumping by Chumbawumba? I get knocked down, but I get up again. You’re never gonna keep me down. This is what our football is all about. This is Leeds United.

This day however, we will not forget.

RIP lads

Give them nothing, take from them everything – this is what I want to see plastered on the changing room walls at Elland Road from now till the end of the season.

After the QPR game on Saturday, the minutia of the 90 minutes was picked over, like a seasoned lobster picker armed with a titanium toothpick. The fact that we had no shots on goal let alone on target, justified the ” a point gained not two points lost” thinking. The fact that this was infuriating, is testament to how the team has grown in the last 8 months.

The defence has been the cornerstone of our team. At the start of the season, who knew anything about Luke Ayling, Captain Kyle Bartley and Pontus Jansson? Beradi, we already know from his spat with Leon Best in November 2015, has a particular set of skills and he has been perfection as a  stand in for that left back position in Charlie Taylors injury induced absence. Even though our history of playing players out of position, is not exactly glowing, our little Swiss right back has been outstanding so far and a real unsung hero. The commitment he shows epitomises the fighting team spirit our defence shows.

Chris Wood remains on fire. When he gets the ball, he takes a shot. So far he has racked up 22 goals in the League and 3 in the Cup. He is the top goal scorer as it stands in the league this season. When was the last time Leeds United could claim those bragging rights? Certainly not in the last decade in my memory anyway.

So comes the contentious issue of our midfield. Regular readers of this page will know how much I am in favour of the Phillips & O Kane partnership utilised to such good effect at the beginning of the season before O Kane got injured. To me, the physical presence of those two in the middle winning and then  holding the ball up, made those two my first choice picks. However, O Kane struggled after his injury and young Kalvin’s love affair with red cards so far this season, means that this dynamic duo may not reprise their roles again this season. I still think this is where we are lacking, a Luke Murphy or Big Dave ( aka your modern day Vinnys and Kamaras – thanks Dave), would make a huge difference. Unlike most Leeds fans, I don’t think we needed to get a striker in January, we have Roofe and The Duke. Garry with two Rs just needs to play them up front if and when the need arises. Whilst I cannot fault the effort that Vieira and Bridcutt put in, both their displays on Saturday ( and other games recently) were woefully lacking. Bridcutt is playing far too deep and bartley and Co certainly do not need any cover, thank you. The substitutions made a massive difference, but too little too late. The Duke should have come on a lot sooner, really the changes should have all been made within ten minutes of the second half, as we did not look like we were going to score at all. Pablo still looks like he is struggling to get fit. Again, I like him, but he still doesn’t look like he can last the full 90 minutes. Starting with Dallas would be a better option at home, with Sacko coming on as sub. Our two new wingers have potential, but realistically Luke Ayling proved more effective at getting forward than any of our other players.

We still have a chance at second. I am not bothered about going up as Champions. Newcastle and Brighton are not invincible, if anything Fulham are playing well and are a worry. We need to maintain our defensive capabilities, and with Ayling out for a couple of games, it may be time to play Taylor, Jansson, Capt Bartley and Beradi in front of Green. Wood is on International Duty again next weekend. He is one of our hardest working players and by far, he is the one who racks up the most air miles when it comes to “weekends off”.

Like it says at the top of the page, we need to give them nothing and take everything we can get in the run up to the end of the season.

Come on, let’s do this.

For those of you who never did O level Latin, viribus unitis means with united forces or with all ones might. Thanks to a bit of opportunistic photography at a half term stadium tour by a certain former Branch Secretary, this is what appears on the changing room walls at Leeds United.

Now you could be forgiven thinking that this has always been there, after all, we are Leeds United, but given it is emblazoned on a poster of our current team ( Wood, O Kane and Ayling), somehow I think not. Coincidentally, it was also the name of Emperor Franz Joseph I’s favourite Dreadnought Class battleship which was commissioned in 1911. Despite spurious attempts to link the Austro-Hungarian ruler to anyone in the current squad or management team, I can only conclude that this is mere coincidence.

So what is the relevance of this?

To me (and as usual PLEASE read The Disclaimer), this sums up where we are and what we are. United. Finally.

Today, pre match in the pub, there was a palpable air of uncertainty. For the first time in ages, it was brought up that we may be getting our 25% return on our season tickets, and it wouldn’t be a bad thing. Come on! Its not even March yet! There are still 12 games to go, that’s a quarter of a season, everything to play for. It’s not as if the teams above us are runaway leaders. As it stands right now, we are 9 points off 2nd place, 3 games basically. The only game this season where I can honestly put my hand on my heart and say that we were outplayed throughout the whole 90 minutes was QPR, the first game of the season. Oh yes, and Sutton, f***ing disgrace, yes I am still very annoyed…… But in the league, QPR,  7 months ago, when Garry with two Rs was just finding his feet, and yes, people were already calling for his head.

Look where we are now. Remember this?

https://www.leedsunited.com/news/team-news/56/2016-17-season-tickets-now-available

After the first few games, this was all people could talk about and the main discussion was how Mr Cellino was planning on getting out of paying this, as there was clearly no way we would ever achieve this and he would probably do a runner and leg it before he had to pay up anyway. There’s no point denying it, you all thought it, and yes, there are probably some who still think it now. Unfortunately if you follow the link, the watermarked poster boys are Lewis Cook and Alex Mowatt…oops!

So back to today. Everywhere you go (not just the Golden Lion pub), you hear how Cellino’s lack of spending in the transfer window has let us down. How we are never going to amount to anything with all these loan players. How we should have got Nugent or Fletcher and jumped at the chance of signing Rhodes. I am sick of hearing how much we need a proper striker and how much the midfield is lacking.

Today the team exemplified the word united. A sterling team effort by all. We do not play attractive football, but today, like we were doing in October and November, the result was ground out. Wood poked in his goal after his first controlling touch from a beautiful Beradi cross and even I couldn’t knock Green’s save from that “penalty”, which realistically was 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. Beradi, who has been playing out of position since Charlie Taylor got injured, has been outstanding. He is clearly a right back, but he has slotted in so well, and unlike Sacko today, clearly can use his right and his left foot equally. O Kane, another unsung hero also put in an excellent shift. As for The Duke, when he has a good game, he does have a good game. I still think Bridcutt is playing too deep and gave the ball away a bit too much for my liking, but where the gaps appeared, someone came in to fill in, and again, Luke Ayling had another class effort in defence and going forward, apart from that poor clearance which he should have left, which led to the corner from which they got the penalty.

Come On Leeds!

ps thanks to former Branch Secretary for the photo

It’s that time of the season again, time to get quizzical, quizzical. Think Olivia Newton John in her leotard, leggings and headband on Eggheads. Actually, on second thoughts, let’s not.

The Annual LUSC quiz is a tradition that goes way back. In the 80s, there used to be inter branch quizzing galore, with many references to quiz teams in pubs far and wide across Yorkshire, mentioned in our branch meeting minutes. Not so many moons ago, I remember going to one at Headingley, where the top teams from LUSC quiz were invited to face the cleverest Leeds Rhinos teams. Our branch fared quite poorly in that one too, but it is the taking part that counts!

Sadly now, there is but one main event and it was hosted in The Eddie Gray Suite, in the (Magnificent New) East Stand last night (Thursday 23rd February 2017). Bizarrely enough, when I normally check in at Elland Road, every individual part comes up on my phone, apart from the Eddie Gray Suite, maybe Google Maps have the hump as well.

So the branch entered 3 teams. The newest entry ( The Grumpy Whites) made up from the wise heads of Dave Rowson, Karen (Abbott) Webb, John Webb and the youngest brain of the night, Garforths very own hot shot, Sean Hunter. The Deputy Yates (Jolly Whites) team of Andy Yates, James Proctor, Callum ( Marseille 2nd biggest city in France) Brook and late arrivee Paul ( Smuff) Smith made their second appearance, and the usual doggedness of Geoff Thrush, Mick Barker and The Secretary and The MPO dared to sit where no one else would – right by the window overlooking the car park! True to form we nearly missed the first question as we were too distracted trying to think of the word for fear of heights. We settled for Vertigo Sufferers as the team name, as none of us could remember acrophobia. It’s a good job that wasn’t one of the questions, as we would have got it wrong! Harrogate Acrophobics saved for next season then, unless of course we get there as early as Deputy Yates did, in which case we will pick the lower seats nearest the food.

The MPO would like to extend thanks to the Leeds United catering service for the fabulous pork pie, peas and mint sauce by the way. Andy (I think) the catering manager said that the pork pies were only put on as an after thought, as their planned offerings were un-named meat and potato and cheese and onion pies. Thank goodness someone had the foresight to source the pork pies. You cannot beat a pork pie, mushy peas, gravy and mint sauce for a pub quiz. Admittedly, never had that combination with a bottle of Valpolicella but it’s Thursday, why not?

Last season Geoff, Mick, The Secretary and The MPO vowed to do some revision to prepare, like we do every season actually. And, like we do every season, we arrived at the quiz still not able to put names to current squad numbers between the 4 of us. Shoddy! Sure enough round 5, squad numbers! And not just this season, but promotion winning seasons too. So, after an excellent first two rounds start, the Harrogate Knights sank further into the mire with every Leeds United question fired at us. I can’t speak for the other two branch teams , but save the question of David Batty’s two shirt numbers, we didn’t do very well. The round was soundly topped off with “what was Harry Kewell’s number?” . We answered 666, correct answers on a postcard please…

The “general sport” round flummoxed us too, our answer to “Who is the England rugby union captain? was an inspired Donald Trump, again, incorrect, but good choice I thought. Luckily enough the combination of The MPO remembering that Beth Jordache buried Trevor under the patio in Brookside and Geoff Thrush recollecting how unfairly Gareth was beaten into second place by Will Young meant that the Harrogate Whites managed a joint 4th spot highest ranking, with the other two in the not too shabby 9th (Grumpy Whites) and 10th (Jolly Whites) places out of a possible 16 ( I’ll check that up and correct as necessary). Had The MPO not over-ruled Geoff over his knowledge of the Metropolitan Line and Mick Barker had insisted more vehemently on his 1980s info, we may have still achieved joint 4th, but at least Mick remembered Richard Naylor put a brace past Yeovil.

Our thanks to the above-mentioned for their attendance and of course to the LUSC for their organisation and Leeds United for their hospitality. Roll on next season, let’s try to start reading up sooner and get those squad numbers in our heads. New branch motto viribus unitis (thank you Dave Rowson for that little nugget) and to finish with Olivia Newton John..

Since Marco Silvestri came to Leeds United, there has only been only been one Love Story that matters. You have to admit it, the camera doesn’t lie, she only has eyes for one person. Since the first time they met, Deputy Yates has been “bumping into” the lovely Sofia far too many times for this to be a casual fling. Either that or Deputy Yates has some serious man marking issues. Hardly!

Luckily enough, the “Managers Curse” that has plagued Brian McDermott, Uwe Rosler and Steve Evans (can’t even remember a picture with Redfearn- must have been his own doing that one), has yet to touch the delicate hands of Sofia.

So here it is in all it’s glory… I think Marco is safe!

Bournemouth in Marco’s shirt, just so she remembers who her Number 1 really is

Blackburn in September over a romantic plastic glass of Carling

Barnsley away smouldering in Andy’s shadow

Huddersfield with a reassuring thumbs up